The person that said "The only way that evil will prevail is for good people to stand back!", is so true. The good people in America have been standing back for too long. We have almost given away the boat! If we don't start doing something soon it could be too late. We have elected officials that have been elected to look out for our best interests. The problem is they are looking out for their interests long before they look out for our interest. We elect them, they work (am I not correct) for us they, need to start doing just that. I wish I could pass a law giving me a raise, or setting up my retirement and medical system, totally separate and distinct from the average voter. The good people of America have stood by and let our elected officials get by with this. They find a great bill and add their own pork barrel projects for this friend or another to it. Before you know it in order to have the beneficial bill pass we have to spend billions more on junk for special interest groups! We need the line item veto passed but if you are waiting for your congressman to vote for it you will wait for a long time. How about something new just make every bill stand alone on its own merits! Have you tuned in to watch your congress at work? No wonder we don't get any thing done, nobody is at work! Your congressmen are too busy making money for themselves or going on vacation to Europe on a fact finding mission paid for by our hard earned money! They can't be bothered doing their job and working on solutions for American problems.
So if when you look around and don't like what you see, just how vocal have you been about the problems. Or have you just sat by and let things go!
At least that is what I think.

Page two

Here is something that was sent to me. It speaks volumes! When are we (the American people) going to wake up?

Subject: 545 people


545 People
By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.
You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don't control monetary policy, The Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices - 545 human beings out of the 300 million - are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress.
In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered but private central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority.
They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman or a president to do one cotton-picking thing.
I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall.
No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits.
The president can only propose a budget.
He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes.
Who is the speaker of the House?
She is the leader of the majority party.
She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want.
If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts - of incompetence and irresponsibility.
I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.
When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.
If the Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ .
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.
Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like 'the economy,' 'inflation' or 'politics' that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.
They, and they alone, have the power.
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses - provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
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Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel